Now is a time to pay respect to the late Queen Elizabeth II but how should this be carried out? Sadly, not everyone is paying respect in the way that they should be doing. Even a video tribute to Her Majesty has been vandalised. Written by Steve Ashfield
On Friday September 9, I went up to London to pay my tribute to Queen Elizabeth II. It just felt the right action to take. Around 10pm I returned home and saw that the two video tributes to the Queen had been defaced. On one side, a single poster had been put over her face. Two posters had been placed on the other video tribute,
This appalling act of vandalism has been carried out by a group who are campaigning against the supply of diary. During a period of national mourning, they have continued their campaign, even spraying Big Ben white. They don’t deserve to be named but the police know who they are and will hopefully take some action.
Their campaign may have some worthy points, I’m not really an expert on the supply of dairy. Surely though, they have some decency in their ranks and know what a horribly sad period we are going through at present.
It is not just the campaigning group that should be holding their heads in shame but the city of Brighton. I saw the vandalism on Friday evening but by the end of the weekend, they were still visible. Why is this the case? Brighton seems to come to a halt at the weekend when it comes to dealing with such matters. This is no normal time though is it?
How many people have walked past the video tributes? I did make an attempt to clear them on Saturday and at least got rid of the text of the campaign material. Surely, there should have been someone who saw how disgraceful it was for the vandalised video tribute to remain in that condition?
Earlier this year, the Platinum Jubilee took place. It was a time of celebration marking the achievements of The Queen. Shop windows were full of bunting and images of Her Majesty. Why isn’t that the case now that she has sadly died? Is it because there is no profit to be made from doing so?
Even political groups were still prepared to be out on the streets at the weekend. In Parliament, business has been suspended bar tributes and the procedures needed when a monarch has died. That’s what should have happened in Brighton but that’s not what took place.
Politics continued with one Labour activist saying it was ok to do so as the Daily Mail was still publishing. Another even told me that we’re not in a time of national mourning. Regardless of which political party was campaigning, this shouldn’t have been taking place.
We have to pay our respects to Queen Elizabeth II. Her Majesty did so much for us over 70 years. Things like putting up a photo in your window to remember her, it’s the least we can do.
As for campaigning groups, there are plenty of other places to put your posters, not over the face of Queen Elizabeth II.
“The good news is that on Monday September 12, the offensive posters were removed. However, so were the tributes to Her Majesty as the quest for advertising profits took precedence. Instead of paying tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, it was back to more important matters such as Spin ’til you win at BetfairCasino, TalkTalk and Sainsbury’s. Surely there could have been space found for the tributes? We seem to be living in a part-time period of mourning. I personally think at least a little gesture here and there to stop people saying you did nothing and then back to business. That’s not the way it should be.
